Of course, we never know where our lives will take us. We can try to steer life in the direction we want to go, make plans, but when it comes down to it, what's around the corner is often a surprise.
When I first went to Panama back in 1968, sailing on Seedrache with Randy - boy, does that ever put me in the baby boomer generation - we met a young couple who had driven down from California in an old VW bus, true hippies. They were headed down to Ushuaia, at the tip of South America. I remember thinking then, "Wow, what a great trip!" And ever since then, I have thought of driving down the west coast to Panama, down the Pan American Highway. It's a long trip, and I wouldn't attempt it on my own. I just need a fellow adventurer.

So I was skyping Betsy this morning, and guess what? Yep, she might do the trip with me. There would be a lot of things that have to be worked out as getting visas and car permits take time. But if we started the process soon, we could get it done and be out of here by November.

We've traveled together before and have known each other for 20 years now so we would most likely survive the closeness of a trip like that. I would get my car all sorted out to take down there. It's going to need new brakes soon, and the transmission needs checking, but it is a great car and I think would be totally reliable for that sort of trip. And it would be good to have a 4x4 down there where some of the roads are marginal. I'd be able to use my four wheeling skills I learned in South Africa at the Land Rover school.

If we decide to do this, the longest stretch is through Mexico, then into Guatamala. Then in El Salvador, we would stay with John Barr's son who has a house on the beach and I have the option of staying in the apartment that is being built over the restaurant he owns, which is also on the beach. Then we would head south, through Nicaragua into Costa Rica, where Betsy has a friend with a surf camp where we could hang out. From there into Panama. Definitely an adventure.